Windsurfing is a board sport

I got in touch with skateboarding, windsurfing and snowboarding pretty much at the same time. It all started in the mid to late 80ties, when Madonna released La is la Bonita, when Sylvester Stallone aka Rocky Balboa fought his fight in Rocky IV or when Nidecker started to build their first snowboards. I was stoked by the feeling of the glide on my Nidecker, cruising through a winter forest in knee high powder snow. And I completely freaked out when I had my first glide in the straps on my Mistral Diamond Head. That was a moment of satisfaction when I realized what’s the potential of a funboard in the bay of St. Florent on CorsicaÂ that late afternoon in August 1988.

I didn’t want to stop to ride my toys during winter and during summer. I was hooked on this new board sport. And I am still hooked, 30 years later. And windsurfing is a pure board sport to me. The glide and the ride comes first, the technical aspect is secondary. The feeling to dig the rail into the water or hit a steep wave exactly in the moment, when it’s getting steep means a lot.

When I think about windsurfing or dream about I immediately think of riding a 80 liter board with a 4.7m or 4.0m sail somewhere on the open sea, where’s a chance to ride a wave or go for a straight jump. The board, the fins, the sail and the body should be a unit, which fits together. The purest feeling about that unit I honestly experienced when riding waves in really light wind or just surfed waves on a surf board.

A sequence – outtakes from a video – of a little wave ride at Risco del Paso in August 2016 (filmed by Kerstin Reiger)